Press Photo/Chris ClarkRobert Randolph, at pedal steel guitar on the right, invited women from the crowd at Meijer Gardens to dance on stage during the show Monday night.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Robert Randolph simply doesn't know any other way to play.

Press Photo/T.J. HamiltonRobert Randolph and company played just 11 songs. Of course these were very long, songs, averaging about 10 minutes a piece.

The enthusiasm and unbridled energy that spilled from the stage to ignite the crowd at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park on Monday night might well be the product of Randolph's early training as a young pedal steel guitarist in the House of God Church.

"It was the way we played in church -- just play from the heart. Bring heart and soul and passion, as much of that as you can drum up," Randolph told me last week. "You weren't allowed to play in church if you didn't play with heart and soul and passion. That was the only way to play."

Amen to that, brothers and sisters, amen to that.

Meijer Gardens' outdoor amphitheater rocked for nearly two hours Monday like some rousing tent revival, with Randolph's superstar steel guitar lineup -- appropriately tagged a "Revival" and playing a limited number of shows this month -- humming, warbling, whining and screaming its way melodically through songs spanning rock, soul, blues, gospel, country and funk.

Press Photo/T.J. HamiltonFighting off the cool night air, Amanda Gage, of Grand Rapids, chats with her 92-year-old grandfather Don Gage, of Coral, before the Robert Randolph Revival concert.

The weather may have reverted to blustery, spring-like conditions, but Randolph heated things back up with his "Robert Randolph soup," music and musicianship gleaned from the recipes of generations of guitar pioneers in the sacred steel movement in the House of God Church.

On Monday, a day after playing Tennessee's Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival (where he helped fans roast hiphop's Kanye West for showing up late for a performance), he served up his tasty musical broth to a hungry audience of about 1,300 with two other sacred steel innovators helping out in the kitchen: Calvin Cooke, of Detroit, and Aubrey Ghent, of Nashville.

"It's been so much fun hanging with them and causing a lot of trouble," Randolph said of his mentors.

Now, mostly this is a good sort of trouble, as in stirring up lengthy jams with plenty of guitar solo "shredding." Indeed, after a short opening set of urban folk music by New York's KJ Denhert, Randolph and his bandmates didn't take long to set a new standard for volume and guitar-riffing abandon at the Gardens.

They also proceeded to play just 11 songs for the entire evening. Of course, these were very long, jam-happy songs, averaging about 10 minutes a piece, with lots of improvising on the fly, and knowing nods and hand waves for solos that swung from left to right and back again across the stage.

This ascension into steel guitar shredding heaven was enhanced by organist Jason Crosby and bassist Danyel Morgan, regulars in Randolph's Family Band.

And drummer Dwayne Snelling Jr. (who's filling in for Marcus Randolph, recently hospitalized and now recovering from acute kidney disease), proved to be no slouch either, offering up the perfect snap and thunder on "Bo Diddley," "I Need More Love" and "The March" while hundreds gathered to dance in front of the stage.

Heck, Randolph's such an exuberant fellow, it's hard not to get caught up in the fun. He plays with such an easy, unforced charm with his finger picks and slide, it's also hard not to wonder just how good this guy might really be as a musician.

Cooke told me many fans consider Randolph's concerts "a spiritual experience. What we're trying to do is reach out to people and bring them a message of hope and happiness and joy through the music. We pray that God will touch us so we can touch the audience through our music."

Well, Monday night's audience was touched plenty, judging by the way fans carried on during the band's instrumental, all-out-jam version of Michael Jackson's "Rock With You" that closed the evening, with Ghent in particular getting into the musical revelry.

"You might as well start your week off in a wild way," Randolph had suggested earlier. Apparently, it's the only way these guys know how to play.

Robert Randolph's RevivalHighlight No. 1: In what's become a buoyant Randolph tradition, dozens of women from the crowd danced amid band members on stage to "Shake Your Hips."

Highlight No. 2: A slow-cooking, scorching rendition of "Don't Let the Devil Ride" was sung by Aubrey Ghent, who also waged a terrific steel guitar shredding battle with Randolph.